Marianne Taylor

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
When a very well designed infographic evolves by incorporating great amounts of scientific information, the end product is Marianne Taylor's The Story of Life in 10 1/2 Species. My nerdy self really enjoyed this book. It felt like an attractive, fun, and visually captivating textbook offering a glimpse at the development of selected species in the evolution of life on earth. The last chapter was unexpected, offering a window into the future.… (lisätietoja)

I’m very pleased with this. It gives an in-depth account of most of the seabirds on the British list and brief discussions of the real rarities.

Having all the seabirds in depth in one volume, irrespective of the taxonomy, has given me a much better idea of what birds I should be looking out for, and where, on my visits to the coast. My guidebooks tend to be ‘Britain and Europe’ so that it’s not easy to sort out the ‘possibles’ from a lot of birds I have no realistic chance of seeing unless I take a trip to the continent. I'd probably have had to put in a lot of time and make copious notes to do so.

It’s especially made me aware of the not particularly rare species I’ve never seen but really should have by now. This should help me to see quite a number of new species comparatively easily.

It’s ironic that my visits to the coast have been stopped by the COVID-19 regulations since I’ve had this so I haven’t been able to enjoy the fruits of my reading, but I’m pretty sure it will bear fruit.… (lisätietoja)

The coast is one of Britain’s most endearing features. This small country has one of the longest coastlines in the world, and there is such a variety in that landscape too, from long beaches with golden sands to soaring cliffs, secluded coves and brackish mudflats. In these places too is a huge variety of wildlife, all playing a critical part in diversity of our coasts. Each chapter concentrates on a particular micro-climate, like shingle, rock pools and dunes and there is an immense amount of detail on all flora and fauna that inhabit them, including lots of beautiful photos of these animals and full page spreads of the definitive places of our coast.

For a coffee table book, it is lovely; the pictures are fantastic and relevant, the scope of the book is wide and the text is informative without it feeling that you are reading a textbook. For most readers this will be acceptable, it is a fine book to give to someone wanting a book about our beautiful coastline. For me though it lacks real depth and the personal element that another author could bring to the subject. The pictures are definitely 3 stars, but overall 2.5 stars.… (lisätietoja)